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TAHOE CITY, Calif. — Work to fill a critical missing link in the Tahoe City Public Utility District trail network is moving forward.

The district is completing permitting and final designs for the Homewood Bike Trail, a one-mile stretch between Cherry and Fawn streets running mostly along Highway 89, said General Manager Cindy Gustafson, on Monday.

“Currently, trail users are forced onto an unimproved shoulder of the highway with vehicular traffic,” Gustafson said, making the completion of the trail a public safety issue.

While the trail itself has community support, controversy over the route existed earlier due to potential impacts to private property, Gustafson said. That has since been resolved by TCPUD working with Caltrans to put the trail closer to the highway.

Total cost — including design, permitting and construction — is estimated at $2 million, Gustafson said, with money coming from the California Tahoe Conservancy, Placer County Transient Occupancy Tax and the nonprofit Tahoe Fund.

Still needed is approximately $900,000 for construction, according to TCPUD. Several funding applications are pending.

Construction is likely to start next summer; the trail could be open to the public by 2015.

This portion would add to the existing 19-mile TCPUD bike/multi-use trail network that has been constructed in segments over the past 30 years.